The Cattle Kingdom
- Created by: alicemae1407
- Created on: 12-02-17 19:44
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- The Cattle Kingdom
- The open range
- Ranches on the Great Plains were 'open range' - no fences and cattle were free to graze wherever
- Herds mingled without supervision
- At the spring and autumn round up calves were branded with the same mark as their mothers
- Breeding cows were set free for another year and steers (castrated males) set aside for the drive to the railway
- Cattlemen and Homesteaders often clashed
- Longhorn cattle carried a tick which carried a disease called Texas Fever
- The tough Longhorns were immune to it but homesteaders' cattle weren't
- Meant Homesteaders often lost cattle when herds were driven across their land
- Lack of wood for fences meant many crops were also destroyed by passing herds
- Meant Homesteaders often lost cattle when herds were driven across their land
- The tough Longhorns were immune to it but homesteaders' cattle weren't
- From 1874 the introduction of barbed wire made stock-proof fencing cheap
- Homesteaders fenced their land, reducing cattlemen's access to water and making cattle drives much harder
- Longhorn cattle carried a tick which carried a disease called Texas Fever
- Changing tastes and hard winter ended the Bonanza
- Eastern markets began to demand higher quality of meat than the Longhorn could provide
- Ranchers like Iliff and Goodnight started crossbreeding Longhorns with Herefords-meatier but less resistant to harsh conditions
- States passed quarantine laws-from 1885 Kansas shut its borders to Texas cattle between March and November
- The herds became to big for grazing areas. Meant underfed cattle entered the terrible winter of 1886-7 in weakened conditions
- Homesteaders' fences became death traps as cattle piled against them during blizzards
- Businesses which survived the 1880s economised by raising better-quality animals on smaller land units,shifting towards a more managed environment
- Ranching now depends on the ability to feed livestock in winter, so dependence on irrigation increased
- More intensive ranching also favoured smaller scale operations- family owned rather than corporate
- Ranchers, like homesteaders, now use barbed wire enclosures
- Cowboys became domesticated ranch hands with the change from open range to fenced pasture
- Eastern markets began to demand higher quality of meat than the Longhorn could provide
- The open range
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